Was Tolkien a Hiker?

[Mister Underhill]

Mr. U.: yab-yum? Familiar with karma yoga/Annuttaratantra?

Say, that last is a mouthful. Reminds me of a certain nick. I'm familiar only in the most superficial sense, and merely as a dabbler in comparative mythology. Yin-yang's lesser-known cousin, yab-yum, seems to have suffered from a critical marketing error -- "YabYum" could be the name of a jazzy new bubblegum product. Yet behind it lies a very profound concept (and here I'm sure I'm mangling basic precepts of Tibetan Buddhism - apologies) of the harmonious union of the temporal and the eternal. It was just this combination of phonic silliness and metaphysically-tinged symbolism which drew me to the term.

This evening, though, I'm feeling a stronger kinship with the Hindu warrior-king Muchukunda than with the Buddha. As I read it, Muchukunda helped the gods defeat an army of demons, and was granted by them in thanks the realization of his highest wish. "All he asked was that he might be granted a sleep without end, and that any person chancing to arouse him should be burned to a crisp by the first glance of his eye." I can get behind that.

Anyway, I perceive that I have strayed off topic. Um -- an Enigma!